I guess it's only poetic justice that Menifee Elementary School is holding their "farewell party" this Friday the 13th.

The school is closing down for the 2008-2009 school year due to the budget cutbacks Governor Schwarzenegger warned us about.

There will be a "PTA family night" from 4pm to 8pm to celebrate all the years of learning, staff dedication and fun that has gone on at Menifee Elementary for the past 55 years.

The theme is a western roundup with trick ropers, cowboy clowns, line dancing and hay bales. A call is being put out to all past and present Menifee Elementary alumni over the last 55 years, to come out for this special moment.

Both Carls Jr. and Chick-fil-a will be catering the evening.

Contact Betti Cadmus, school public information officer, for more information: (951) 813-9773.

Labels: Menifee-Elementary-School

The Menifee Union School District yesterday, at the school board meeting, announced the results of the survey regarding the move towards a modified single track school year.

If you recall last February, the school district adopted new school boundaries in preparation towards migrating away from a multi-track school year, to a single track, and then would later on survey the parents to see if they really wanted a single track.

Well, results are in.

And it shows that over 77% of those surveyed wants a single track.

The district actually surveyed three groups of people: the parents, the teachers, and other classified staff (bus drivers, custodial, etc.). Here's a breakdown of how these groups voted...

Parents (Yes) - 543 votes
Parents (No) - 126

Teachers (Yes) - 267
Teachers (No) - 102

Classified staff (Yes) - 209
Classified staff (No) - 66

Total votes (Yes) - 1019 77.61%
Total votes (No) - 294 22.39%

Dr. Linda Callaway announced that the first modified single track year will begin with the 2009-2010 year.

The board went on to explain that their definition of a modified single track is to mimic as closely as possible the high school year of Perris High School District. That's effectively a year that starts in mid-August and runs through May 31, with a three-week vacation for Christmas, and one-week vacation for Easter.

School Busing

The board of trustees also discussed the return of school busing. I don't have a full understanding of what they discussed yesterday since I missed the last several meetings. But here's the jist of what I got. School busing will continue next year, as opposed to being cancelled due the budget restraints. However, there will be walking-radius of 1.25 miles for elementary students, and 2.0 miles for middle school students. If you live within that radius, you get no busing.

Trustee Irey made the argument that the proposal had called for this radius to cut through several housing tracts. She felt it wasn't fair that the radius would create one house being deprived of busing while the house next door could get it. So the board voted to strike "option B" from the proposal, and I don't really know what option B is.

The point was also made that kids living on the border of this radius could walk as little as across the street to get on the bus, and cheat the system. So the board talked about issuing photo ID cards to bussed kids and having drivers kick out the kids trying to capitalize.

I'll try to make a point to attend more of these meetings.

New California Distinguished Schools

The school board meeting also recognized Menifee Elementary and Callie Kirkpatrick Elementary as achieving the honor of being the newest California Distinguished Schools. The honor comes as bitter-sweet for Menifee Elementary now that's its closing down for a full year due to budget restraints.


Students from from Menifee Elementary School proudly displaying their school's achievement.

Labels: Callie-Kirkpatrick-Elementary, Menifee-Elementary-School, Menifee-Union-School-District

This Friday, May 16th, Chester W. Morrison Elementary School is having an "End of the Year Carnival", running from 5 p.m. to 8 p.m.

The school is inviting families from Menifee Elementary School that will be relocating to Chester W. Morrison next year, as a result of budget cuts. It's more like a "welcoming party".

For more information contact: Lisa Spetz (951) 314-2725.

Labels: Chester-W-Morrison-Elementary, Menifee-Elementary-School